Swedes host SWC Fine Arts Festival

Anyone driving by Gothenburg High School last Friday and Saturday might have noticed a flock of school buses.

The buses transported students from Ainsworth, Cozad, Valentine, Minden, Broken Bow and Ogallala to Gothenburg for a two-day Southwest Conference Fine Arts Festival.

On Friday, art students created murals and sculptures. They also had a mixer activity.

Full ensemble and sectional rehearsals for band and choir students also occurred.

Saturday’s agenda included additional rehearsals for instrumentalists and vocalists and workshops for art students.

Art workshops and clinicians included “Cubism: Thinking Inside and Outside of the Grid” by Christy Kosmicki, a Holdrege High School art teacher and adjunct faculty member at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Jenny Raymond of Gothenburg taught “Fun with Fabric, Paint & Stencils.” “Pewter Casting” was led by artist Ray Schultze of Papillion, who is a UNK professor emeritus at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. “Wire & Pantyhose Sculpture” was taught by Scott Schwarz, an elementary and high school art teacher in Bertrand.

A handful of students listened and talked to members of the Chiara String Quartet who had played a public concert at the Sun Theatre Friday night.

The clinician for the band was Erin Bejot-Rathe, who is director of bands at Omaha North Magnet High School. Bejot-Rathe, of LaVista, is a 1997 alumnus from Ainsworth High School.

Leading the honor choir was Curt Isaacson of Omaha, who is director of choral activities at Omaha Northwest High Magnet Schools.

Marcia Speck, an accompanist and elementary music teacher at Gothenburg Public Schools, accompanied choral students.

The festival ended with a public concert in the north gym of GHS on Saturday afternoon.

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